The Gunners boss has been in charge of the club for 16 years overseeing three Premier League title wins and four FA Cup triumphs.

But the trophies have dried up and after seven barren seasons there has been unrest between the team and its fans.

Winterburn, though, believes they need to back their boss as he looks set to earn a new contract.

He told Drive Time: “Arsene Wenger is a very loyal man. If he says he’s staying until the end of his contract, he will stay. He’s said many times he’s had offers to move to other clubs.

“I think he has been hurt by some of the supporters who haven’t trusted his judgement. They could say they have a right to question him because we haven’t won anything.

“But people say to me, ‘why do Arsenal not spend £30million on players’, but even when Arsenal won things under Arsene Wenger they never spent that amount of money. He always spent relevant money and brought young players through.

“I’m not worried that he hasn’t signed a contract. I think Arsene Wenger is a very proud man and he wants to feel that he has a team that’s capable of achieving something.

“I think he’s just going to sit back, look at it and say, ‘can I re-energise this club? Can I re-energise this crop of players? And can I push them somewhere, even if we can’t win the title, can I at some stage put us in a position where we can challenge for the Premier League?’ I think that’s important for the supporters.”